wheel bearing funked?

[beatjunkie]

how can you distinguish which one it is as ive developed a humming noise at higher speeds e.g. 60-70 and are they easy/expensive to do??

cant decide if the noise is coming from the front or rear passenger side, well annoying?
any ideas, how to tell which one?

Ryan

 

[MattT]

If you can shake/rattle the wheel when the car is jacked up you'll know if your bearing has gone. Wouldn't have thought it would have made a humming noise tho.

 

[beatjunkie]

i thought the humming noise meant it was broke?hmmm maybe thats another thing then, ill jack it up and see

cheers

 

[Sami]

Wheel bearing would make a humming noise if it was broken?

If its a wheel bearing the noise will stop when you go round a corner either left or right. If it stops when you're going round a right bend it means its the LEFT wheel bearing thats going as when you round the bend to the right all the pressure is on the right wheel hence no pressure on the left wheel bearing so the noise stops. Obviously if you go round a left bend and the noise stops its the RIGHT bearing which is going.

To get it fixed by a garage you could be looking at around £100 you could do it yourself though, normally best option is to take the hub off yourself, buy a new bearing then take both to the garage who swap the bearings then put it back on the car yourself.

 

[Sami]

If you do it yourself, new bearing is about £20 depending where you go and pressing £5/10.

 

[Dave_W]

Best way is to jack it up, spin the wheel and just listen.

If its shagged, then your hear it humming.

As Sami said, the bearings are about £20ish

 

[Sami]

Only problem I've found with spinning the wheel is that if its (the bearing), only just starting to go chances are you won't be able to hear it just by spinning it by hand!

 

[beatjunkie]

How hard is it to replace a rear wheel bearing??its a 1.4 with drums its a 70mph humming noise!well annoying

 

[Martin_172]

sounds like a bearing, £20 or so from GSF car parts each and £5/£10 per side for a garage to press them, free if you know anyone with a garage lol

on a 1.2 16v with drums on the rear you pop the centre cap bit off the drum, undo the bolt, pull the hub off and take it to a garage, have it pressed then pop it on again. simple should be the same or similar on yours

 

[beatjunkie]

trouble is tho the wheel is solid when jacked up it doesnt move at all thats my other worry as it may not be this, should call in a garage really!!cheers

 

[Twisty]

I too found that I could not tell which wheel it was from jacking it up and spinning it.

I determined which side it was by cornering, if you do a left hand corner and the noise gets louder then its the right and wheel (as the weight moves to the outside as you corner).

My bearing started as a 70mph one like yours and ended up as a 30mph bearing before I replaced it

Taking the rear drum off is a quick 10min job. I struggled to remove the bearing myself and ended up paying a renault dealer £40 to do the honours! Next time I'll just buy myself a bearing driver, cheaper that way.

 

[beatjunkie]

cheers for the info thats really helpful ill wait till it gets 30mph loud lol

 

[RichMcc]

My rear passenger bearing is totally stuffed, however I cant tell where the noise is coming from when driving, if some one else drives then I can hear which side its on its weird.

 

[beatjunkie]

is £63 for the rear and £100 alot to get done at a garage???

 

[RichMcc]

OUCH!! mine will only charge me £25-£30 for changing the rear discs pads and bearings. Think my bearing was about £45 from renaults and thats for a 172!!

 

[donsrno1]

have you checked all the wheels for play? When I got my front bearing changed at a garage, before I started doing work on the car myself, it cost me about £70 iirc. Thats about standard price of which about £20 is the bearing.